我的母親畢業於師大家政系，在那個教育不普及又保守的年代，這是女性的第一志願。當個賢妻良母顯然是當時社會對女性的普遍期待。而家政系對於母親的巧手來說可是如魚得水！

My mother graduated at The Department of Home Economics in Taiwan Normal University.  During the 50’s  education was not that popular, Home Economics was the first choice for women.  Mom’s skillful ability was totally suited to this field.
 

在我學齡前父親考上了日本的公費留學。留學期間，母親結束了教學的工作，和父親到日本進修了一段時間，更在那裡接觸到染色花和日本捏貼畫（Tsumami)。小學四年級，父母從日本回國，母親開始專職人造花的創作。曾經開過一家店，也舉辦過展覽。還記得當時家裡即是教室，後來接了外銷的訂單，家裡頓時忙了起來，成了客廳即是工廠。雖然是外銷訂單，變成量產的形態，母親一直沒有忽略創新，在材質和製程都有許多巧思，總是能克服量產帶來的種種問題，還能保持花朵的水準，讓客戶驚艷連連。我的童年就這麼在花花世界中慢慢長大，當時也不知道，其實正有些種子悄悄撒上了我的心田。

When I was a kid, my father gained a scholarship to study in Japan.  Mom went there with him and got the chance to learn the art of flower making from artificial materials from Masters of the craft.  When I was ten they moved back to Taiwan and she began to teach flower making, held exhibitions and even opened a shop.  Her skills were soon discovered by some businessmen and she received orders for exporting.  Even during the mass production she still showed her creative mind and conquer the problems by mass production and still keep the very high quality.  I was lucky to grow in the flowery environment.  Something I didn’t know was there were some seeds sown in my heart.

Many years later,  I inadvertently crossed over from a career in electronics to the world of ceramic art.  Even while studying at the school of fine arts and then making a living from ceramic art, I didn’t ever think about any connection with my mom’s flowers.  Who knew her visiting NZ and making her first clay flowers would become my new direction a few years later?  I feel I’m following in her steps which is a great honour and brings great happiness to me.
 

11月26號我在但尼丁舉辦“生命力”個展，這次展覽有很大部分花朵主題，在此之前先來欣賞一下母親精湛的手藝，並祝她生日快樂！